Tag
by Bookman230
Summary: The secret origin of Rooftop Tag is revealed as Stephanie apologizes to Cass after a bad day. Takes place immediately after Batgirl 27, references Robin 98 detailed in previous fic Talk, as well as Joker's Last Laugh 3, Batgirl 21, and Stephanie's first appearances of Detective Comics 647-649.


Ah, rooftop tag. A sacred, time-honored game. It began in Ancient Rome, when Julius Caesar (secretly an Atlantean) and Brutus (secretly a Martian, both secretly superheroes) decided to test their skill and speed without all the death and screaming and lion droppings of the Coliseum. And so rooftop tag was born, as they dashed across roman domus.

Nah, that was all bull. But in a world with people dressed as Bats and aliens, does it sound _that_ far fetched? Plus it sounds better than 'it just happened between two young and stupid vigilante teens'. But that's exactly what happened. Spoiler (Real name: Stepha- wait, wait, no. _Spoiler_ : real name, Stephanie Brown. Heh. Nailed it) and Batgirl (real name: unknown, like the rest of her- Batgirl's, not Stephanie's, since optimism and a can-do attitude can only blind you to so much, and that did not include the fact that to the fam, she was only a little more beloved than Huntress, and even that was a toss up- little Batfam) were stopping some common thugs. After that whole misadventure with the feuding brothers, they were working together more. Sure, BG(her nickname for Batgirl, since they're tight) still threw in a token 'go home', for awhile, but she still let Stephanie come along. And even those stopped after they saved Harley together. And especially after the whole… whole Shadow Thief thing.

That was the first real hint Stephanie had of the person behind the mask. Well. That and the 'maybe you stink' retort when Oracle kept them in the tower while Joker was out getting his last laughs. Nothing quite ruins the fearsome bat mystique like coming up with a comeback a five year old would be ashamed of. But this was… more. She had her _mask off_ , for Pete's sake. Even though Stephanie didn't recognize her, that was an incredible display of trust. And she was _crying_. _Bawling_. All because she almost accidentally killed a thief.

At night, when she couldn't sleep, Stephanie wondered if she would. Cry, that is. Well. She knows she would. It's the why that makes her toss and turn. Would it be over killing someone? Or just over sinking any chance of getting in with the family? She couldn't forget… she could never forget her hands around those chains, squeezing down on da- Cluemaster's throat. How good it felt to have the power for once. To get back at him. Make _him_ hurt. The memory of that rush didn't leave. The guilt and horror didn't either. But she'll never tell anyone how smaller those two were. And how afraid she was that if she… if she crossed that line… would that rush be there? Would she only cry for herself?

Deep down, would she enjoy it?

...Batgirl wouldn't. Didn't. As soon as Stephanie got there, she begged- _begged_ in a voice that still rang in Stephanie's head.

" _Help_."

She never saw someone more distressed. More horrified. And not for her own sake. Sure, she asked Stephanie not to tell Oracle, but only _after_ the guy was saved. And besides. It was an accident. She wasn't gonna throw BG under the bus. ...Just… just run her over herself with the bus. ...Um. Sorry. She's a babbler. She babbles, if you haven't noticed. That comes later. Anyway. After that, they were closer. Maybe. It was hard to tell, with this group, and maybe Stephanie was reading too much into it, projecting her own hopes. But they _were_ teaming up more, there were less 'go home's, and then one night solidified it. They had just taken down some thugs, and watched the cops take them in from the rooftops. Stephanie gave Batgirl a congratulatory 'we did good' nudge. Batgirl nudged her back. So Stephanie was going to nudge _her_ back, but Batgirl stepped back, and almost made Stephanie fall over. Then she grinned (BG's grins were the best; only ones Stephanie knew that _shined_ through the mask, and there was something about them, something so… open, that made each one feel special, and just for her).

"Catch me. If you can," she said, in that teasing, challenging voice that always got Stephanie excited (...not… not _that_ kind of excited. Obvi… obviously. ...P-poor choice of words, moving on!). Then she was off. And what was Stephanie supposed to do? _Not_ follow? So she leaped after, trying and failing to hold back laughter. BG was keeping a good distance, but even Stephanie could tell she wasn't going at full speed. She wanted to play. Slowly but surely, she let Stephanie catch up (and obviously she let her catch up; it's _Batgirl_. Like Stephanie could catch her if she was really trying. Maybe if she had a broken ankle. And broken ribs. And a concussion. While she was tied up. Maybe _then_ that could happen, but it wouldn't surprise Stephanie if that was somehow already a training exercise Batgirl has done). Then Batgirl turned around and stopped, just as Stephanie was jumping at her shouting, "Tag!"

Batgirl dodged, obviously, and Stephanie crashed into the ground. BG looked down at her, hands behind her back, with a smug grin on her… mask. Then she tilted her head, like she was confused. "Tag?"

"Yeah? You don't know tag?" She tried to keep the incredulous tone out. Batgirl didn't know some things, like reading or tag. And Stephanie didn't know how to takedown a gang in ten seconds, or how to win Batman's approval. Everybody didn't know some things, and making a big deal out of that would just upset Batgirl. Plus it was a douchey thing to do. So she kept her voice and body friendly, curious. Batgirl shook her head. "Okay…" Stephanie smirked. "Tag is like…" She swept at her leg. BG just jumped above it, and looked back down, confused, It was kinda super cute, Stephanie gave her her best deadpan, put upon stare, and there was a smile in that mask. Probably. Maybe. Let her hope. She sighed as she got up, wiping the dust off her outfit. "Let me touch you." Batgirl obliged, standing still as Stephanie poked her. "I have touched you. Thus, you are tagged. You're it. You have to tag me."

Batgirl nodded. And then poked her on the nose lightning quick. "Tag. You're it." Then she dashed off like she was the Flash.

"Hey! That's not fair! I wasn't ready!"

Batgirl called back, "Lesson one: always be prepared!"

Eventually she let Stephanie catch her. She even pretended that she didn't let her, which was much appreciated. It allowed Stephanie to at least be able to _act_ like she could relish in her victory. "Tag," she breathed out, and BG was already prepping her body to chase her. Stephanie stuck out her arms. "Wait! I… wooh… Give me a moment.." Batgirl nodded and sat down, and Stephanie joined her. They stayed like that for awhile.

Then Batgirl looked at her, and said, "We should play rooftop tag again. Sometime."

"Rooftop tag, huh?"

"Yes. Don't think most people play tag on rooftops. Just guessing. We're special."

Stephanie snorted, and she swore she saw another grin, which was nice. "Damn straight we are. And sure, anytime you wanna beat my butt at rooftop tag, I'm down."

"You weren't… _that_ bad."

"Don't try and spare my feelings, BG. I was _exactly_ that bad."

"Well… yeah. But still fun.

Stephanie smiled at her, under that night sky. "Yeah. It was." And so a tradition was born. One that endured criminals, Batdickery, and… Stephdickery.

Yeah. She said she'd get back to that. She was having a long, bad day. Also known as her average Tuesday night. The Batcave was shut off and nobody was telling her jack, like usual. She drove her motorcycle over the road spikes they set up and crashed into the gates, and she _loved_ that bike. And Batgirl was right there, and wasn't telling her anything, wasn't trusting her with what was going on after all they went through, and she… she snapped.

" _Yeah. Cause you're_ so _different."_

" _With only_ you _to talk to. Which is_ less _than useless."_

" _You can at_ least _say '_ goodbye' _."_

...Yeah. Not her proudest moment. And because the universe thrives on punishing her, that was the last time they talked before BG decided that facing off against Lady Shiva, _the_ most deadly martial artist in the world, one on one, in to the death combat, was a totally radical idea. Obviously Batgirl won, without the death happening to anyone, because she's just incredible. But… she could've died. She probably knew that was a very strong possibility. Hell, she apparently came back bruised and battered and collapsing right at the tower's doorstep, according to Oracle, and Stephanie saw for herself her mini coma. Batgirl knew she was going to get seriously hurt, or worse. But she went anyway, and that would've been their last talk.

(Sometimes Stephanie wondered if that talk helped her decide, made her think 'What do I have to live for, anyway? What do I have to lose? Who would miss me?'. Made her think nobody cared. That Stephanie didn't care. And so she marched off to likely death thinking Stephanie didn't care. She could've _died_ thinking Stephanie didn't care. And then Stephanie always felt like throwing up.)

...But you know what Batgirl did, when she woke up? Tell her off? Avoid her? Replace her with Supergirl? No. She… she wanted to hang out with her _more_. _Laughed_ more. _Smiled_ more. With _Stephanie_. Even after her her crowning moment of douchebaggery…

Here they were. They just made a major breakthrough on the Bruce Wayne case, one that apparently changed everything. And now they were playing rooftop tag. Like Stephanie hadn't snarled and lashed out at her. Like she never called her less than useless. Like…

Like Stephanie hadn't acted like the splitting image of dear old dad. And that… the guilt and shame were eating her up. Especially when Batgirl acted like it never happened. Who knew. Maybe Stephanie could just… bottle this in. Get away with it. Maybe BG had already moved on and this was reopening old wounds. Maybe this would lead to a fight. It didn't matter. God knows BG deserved a chance to bite back. And she especially deserved an apology.

So she stopped running after BG. Of course, Batgirl stopped in a flash, and tilted her head.

"BG? Can we talk?"

She looked at Stephanie with an examining glance. "Don't cheat."

Stephanie gave her a weak smile. "No, no cheating, promise. I just... " she awkwardly trailed off. Batgirl made her way to her with a few jumps and flips, and when she landed, she laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Talk," she said, gently, and somehow even the mask seemed understanding.

"I… I'm sorry."

There was that darn head tilt again. "For?" She honestly seemed confused.

"For… for you know. The cave." BG's fac-... er, mask, settles into an expression of realization. "I just... it was a long bad day and my bike was wrecked and I _love_ that bike and something big was going on but nobody was telling me anything not even you which hurt cause I just want to be let in and it felt like you don't trust me which I know isn't true and it's not your fault but I was hurt and I lashed out and-" she stopped and took a deep breath, and then looked at Batgirl sincerely. "I'm sorry."

Batgirl said nothing, in thought. Then, "...You thought I don't trust you?"

"I… yeah, but I know you do, and I'm not blaming you, I'm just explaining why I was douchebag mcgee and I didn't mean any of it and-" Batgirl just nodded, took off her mask, and smiled.

"Cassandra."

"And I'm _really_ sorry, I'm a terrible fri- what?"

"Cassandra. Is my name."

She… she was sharing her secret… "BG, I…"

She looked at Stephanie earnestly. "I trust you. Still can't… explain much. Still rest of family. Batman. But I want to. I trust you. And you're not terrible. Okay?"

"I…" For once, Stephanie was at a loss for words. The only ones that came out were, "...That's a beautiful name."

BG- Cassandra's- eyes widened at that, and she looked away. But she was smiling, and she looked almost... bashful. "Really?"

"Yeah! Really... Really strong. And pretty. Perfect fit for you." Really articulate, Stephen. But Cassandra's smile only got wider, and somehow the smile was even better with the mask off. Kinda... Kinda breathtaking, actually. "S-sides!" she started, trying to lighten up the suddenly intimate mood, "It's way better than Stephanie, at least."

Cassandra shook her head. "No. Perfect name. So. Perfect fit. For you." ...W-well. Cassandra was... good at this. Thank god Stephanie still had her mask on, cause ten to one, she was blushing. Cassandra could probably still tell though. The mind reader.

"T-thanks." Smooth. "...I mean it, though. I was awful. You deserved better. And I'm sorry."

Cassandra hm'd. "I know. So if you're sorry, why should I be mad?"

"So we're cool?"

"Yes. I... I'm sorry too. Didn't mean to make you feel... Untrusted. Should've... tried harder. Talked more."

"Hey, no! You _should've_ taken my head off. Er, non-literally. Not that I'd blame you if you did that too. I'm lucky you talk to me at all, after all that."

Cassandra was silent for a moment. Then she said, in a tone hard to pin down, "Luckier you talk to me ever. Want to. Talk more. To you." She sounded like an odd mix of regretful, sad, and… grateful.

"...That fight with Shiva really got to you, huh?" she asked gently.

"...Yeah," Cassandra answered quietly. "...In a good way or a bad way?"

Stephanie smiled, and placed her hand on Cassandra's shoulder. "Seems like a good way, to me. But… look. I'm down to talk whenever. But the _way_ you talk… it's just fine with me. Okay?"

"...Really?" Stephanie was really starting to hate those 'really's. They sounded so shocked. So disbelieving. Cass deserved to know this stuff.

"Yeah, really. It's a part of you, Cass, and that makes it special and awesome."

"...Cass?"

"Huh? What, you don't like nicknames? I can just call you Cassandra-"

Cassandra shook her head, and smiled. "No. I like it." Stephanie smiled back.

"Well then, Cass. I believe we have a game to finish, and since I swore upon my honor not to cheat…" She barely finished her sentence before Cass took off, and she grinned before following her, leaping across rooftops with, as strange as it sounds, her best friend, and one thought went through her head.

Her life was awesome.


End file.
